Visit the Salinas Grandes Salt Flats

Excerpt from the book Soul Searching in South America from the Teresa the Traveler Series. Fourteen hours is way too long to be on a tour. The guide picked me up at 7 am in a Ford Explorer then we drove to another hotel to pick up three young women from Buenos Aires. We had barely left town when the engine started to skip. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the middle of the desert. It wasn’t long before the temperature gage was at hot and we had to pull over in a small village.

I am not sure how it happens but I have witnessed this strange phenomenon throughout the world. For some reason, moments after an engine breaks down and the hood is opened it is surrounded by men. There could be no men in sight and the broken engine will make them magically appear out of nowhere. Within minutes of the breakdown there is usually up to six men bent over the engine displaying a horrific case of mechanics crack. Most of the men know nothing about engines but can’t resist the urge to join the others around the hood to discuss the problem. The one who produces the wrench is usually the one with just enough knowledge of engines to be dangerous. He will inevitably start loosening and tightening things while having the driver turn the engine on and off. During this engine party, the women usually stay in the car or go for a walk to get as far away from the vehicle as possible in case it blows up. The day was not off to a great start. My prognosis of the situation was a crack in the radiator. It was a ridiculously hot day and we were driving through a desert…not a great combination. After 30 minutes they managed to cool the engine down and fill the radiator with enough water to keep the engine cool for another 20 minutes before it once again overheated. Having experienced this problem with my truck a few years back, I suggested to our guide that he turn on the heat which would cool the engine. Heat in a car is just hot air sucked from the engine and brought into the cab. This in effect cools off the engine. My guide didn’t believe me and we spent the next few hours stopping on the side of the road at regular intervals while he continued the arduous process of adding water to the radiator even burning his hand in the process.

For tips on visiting Argentina CLICK HEREFor tips on visiting South America CLICK HEREFor general travel tips on what to pack and how to plan ahead CLICK HEREFor tips on travelling on a budget CLICK HERE

Knowing how guys love to fix things, I sat back and let him do his thing until it became apparent that we would never make it to the salt flats at that rate. I was going to do a happy dance on that salt flat if it killed me so I took matters into my own hands. The next time the engine heated up I turned on the heat full blast and insisted he trust me. He laughed when it did not go down immediately then after a minute the gage moved towards cool and stayed in the middle – a safe place to drive. He was shocked and grateful for this new information. Considering we were out of water in the middle of the desert we didn’t have many other options…well there was water from the mud puddles formed alongside the dirt road from the heavy rains of the past few days. He had resorted to using it once and how he managed to fill the bucket up and pour it into the radiator without getting his clean white shirt dirty was a mystery to me. Unfortunately our problems didn’t end there. We were on a dirt road that had recently become a mud road. A large truck was already stuck forcing us to negotiate the best way around the bad patch. Our guide had befriended the driver of another tour van and the two were excited to face the challenge together. What is it with men and mud? I swear the first thing a guy does when he gets his driver’s license is find the biggest mud bog he can get his truck stuck in. This way he and his friends can spend the next few hours testing their strength by pushing it out thus giving them reason to celebrate with a man party. That is exactly what happened, the van got stuck in the mud and they spent the next thirty minutes pushing it out and then the man party chewed up another 15 minutes. I was getting a bit grumpy by this time. We were already 8 hours into the tour and had seen nothing of interest aside from a few large cactuses, a greasy spoon café and an old train. I couldn’t believe we stopped to see a train. People keep old trains in their backyards in Canada…they are not that exciting. It wasn’t until around 5 pm when we finally reached the salt fats which I must admit were pretty cool. It looked like a moonscape so I incorporated a moonwalk into my happy dance. Salinas Grandes is a salt desert covering an area of 8,290 km2. The area is of industrial importance because of the sodium and potassium that are mined there. Perhaps one day Lithium will be too. While these salt flats are the largest in Argentina, they paled in comparison to the Salar de Uyuni in neighbouring Bolivia. Disappointed that we didn’t get to spend much time at the salt flats, I was glad to start the four hour drive back to Salta. I didn’t get to my room until 9 pm which made for a long day…too long. Despite the fact much of the day was spent doing my least favourite activity: waiting, I must admit I admired our guide’s attitude. I would have turned around the minute the truck started acting up and called the whole thing off. In fact, I never would have braved the roads had I known I might get stuck in the mud. Despite the fact things always work out in the end it doesn’t stop me from worrying about them. I loved that our guide trusted we would complete our tour and even when things looked bad he kept a positive attitude taking things one step at a time. I need to do that more in life…quit worrying about everything and just take things one step at a time.